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Efficient travel - from Melsksham to Edinburgh by Sleeper Train

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-06-26 09:21:52 - Graham Ellis

I wanted to spend as much of last weekend as possible in Melksham, but I needed to be on site in Edinburgh at ten to nine, fresh to give a week's course ... so I didn't want to drive all the way. Heavy luggage (a dozen manuals, 4 computers) precluded flying ... so I ended up taking the "Caledonian Sleeper" - the train that runs, six nights a week, from London's Euston station to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Lisa gave me a lift to Melksham Station, from where I got the 19:52 train up to Chippenham ... changing into the London Express. From Paddington, via the Bakerloo and Victoria lines to Euston, where I had about an hour "in hand" before joining the sleeper. In standard class, berths are bunks - 2 per cabin; I ended up sharing with a German tourist who's wife and daughter were in the next cabin. But I slept well ... woken by the attendant serving coffee at about a quarter to seven, with the train pulling in to the centre of Edinburgh - Waverley Station - at about 07:15, and parking at the end of a quiet platform for those who weren't rushing off. Personally, I got off the train an quietly checked my email in the Gardens, with a view of the castle. And so, on to a fresh course.

There aren't many sleeper trains left ... although this one was pretty full in both directions (I came back on Friday night). The carriages are old, the journey is slower than during the day (but no-one want to arrive at 04:30, so that's not an issue!) and the use of stock and staff much be dreadfully inefficient - just one single journey a day. But they're "green", they're comfortable and they've a very pracical way of travelling 400 miles or so, and I hope they're around for many years to come. Who knows - there might be a renaissance; there seems little point in rushing about in a fuel-guzzling plane from the outskirts of one city to the outskirts of another, just to then have to spend another night in a hotel.

Pictures? Yes - a journey series' click on any one to enlarge it. With so few sleeper trains around, the reader might be interested in seeing inside the train, as well as an outside picture, for these shy trains only come out in the dead of night and are hard to photograph!

Last weekend (Saturday ... no work done on Sundays!) in Meksham


The TransWilts train from Melksham has just dropped me off at Chippenham


London, Paddington - the Bristol Express has just arrived


London, Euston - late night departure board


A 2 berth compartment (Standard class) on the Sleeper


The sleeper train has arrived in Edinburgh ... and people can get off as they please


Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, early last Monday morning